One Year
by PhantomD
Summary: Natsu leaves on a six month mission, but ends up being gone for a whole year after finding what he thinks are Dragon Footprints, leaving Lucy to feel lonely without her best friend. 365 days leaves them both a lot of time to miss one another. Takes place pre-Tartaros.


**Little drabble I wrote a while ago about Natsu going on a mission and being gone for a year.**

One year.

It had been one year since she had last seen him. It wasn't until he was gone for a month that she realized how much he belonged in her life.

A year ago he had left on a mission that was only supposed to take six months. Five months in, the guild received a letter explaining that he had finished the mission early but found dragon footprints outside the village that him and Happy were going to follow. That wasn't the last time they'd heard from them, but it had been three months since their last letter explaining the cave with the scent of the dragon in it. Three months with no word from him. Although everyone told her that it _was_ Natsu and they were sure he was fine, it did little to make her feel better.

She hadn't told anyone how she felt but judging by the fact Levy knew, she could guess most of the guild knew she had fallen in love with the flame-brained idiot. A true case of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone."

She sighed and Plue who was walking beside her looked up and made a noise. "I'm just tired." she told him.

She had just finished a solo mission earning herself a whopping 200 000 jewels, enough to pay two months' rent and then some, and was walking back to the guild to tell Master. It was often these time she thought of him and all the missions they had completed together. She missed his presence in her bed, especially during the colder months, when he used to climb in and keep her and Happy warm as the snow fell outside her window.

 _Speaking of which, it's supposed to start snowing soon._ She thought. She wrapped her scarf once more around her neck to keep warm and her thoughts drifted to that familiar scarf that never left his neck. The thought caused Lucy to want to walk faster, longing to be with her friends at the guild. Usually when she came home from a mission she headed home to freshen up first, but something this time made her skip ahead of that step.

When she arrived to Main Street Magnolia where the guild was located, she smelled something funky in the air.

"Is that... fire?" she asked to no one in particular. Her eyes widened and she yelled "close, gate of Canis Minor," before breaking into a run.

Normally the smell of fire wouldn't have made her think twice, but this smelled different from a regular fire. She ran as fast as her legs would take her until the doors of the guild were in front of her and she heard laughing and shouting from the inside. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door a crack and slipped inside.

No one had noticed her enter, and all she could think of when she came in was the bright pink hair and white scarf that was the center of attention. Natsu turned his head slightly allowing Lucy to glance at his face. His eyes were the same dark onyx and his smile was just as big an infectious as ever. Other than the fact he looked a little older and taller, it was the same Natsu she remembered.

Her eyes started to water, and she whispered "Natsu?"

She thought no one would have heard her but the second she said it, she saw his ears prick up and he turned his head to look in her direction.

His smile grew even bigger. "Lucy!" he said and stood up. Everyone else then noticed her and even though she tried, the tears fell down her face.

"It's really you." She said. "You've been gone so long... Welcome home."

"I've been back for hours! Where've ya been?" he said walking over to her.

"I just got back from a mission," her face growing red and she was glad for once that she could blame it on the fact she'd been crying.

"Let me guess, rent money?" she nodded and he laughed. "Bet you never had problems getting that while I was gone. No one to owe repair damage fees."

"Yea, something like that." she said quietly.

"Wait, you said you just got back from a mission right? You don't look like you've gone home and showered yet. Let me walk you home and we can head back to the guild afterwards."

Lucy just nodded as she was dragged out of the guild hall. While it hadn't seem like he'd changed much, he had become more considerate of her. He never used to care before.

"Isn't Happy coming?" she asked.

"Nah, he really missed Carla. He's hanging out with her and Wendy."

"Wouldn't you rather be seeing everyone at the guild?"

He turned and walked backwards to face her as he spoke. "Like I said I've been there for a few hours. I actually stopped by your apartment first but left when you weren't there, so I thought you'd be at the guild. You are my best friend after all. Well, after Happy of course."

He kept talking about how everyone reacted when he'd returned and Luc listened until they reached her building.

Inside, Natsu turned to Lucy saying, "When you're done showering I'll tell you all about what - OOF," but she cut him off by giving him a fierce hug.

He smiled softly then returned the gesture by burying his nose in her hair, inhaling her scent.

"I missed you," she said into his chest.

"I missed you too, Luce."

"Don't go disappearing like that again. After three months with no news... I was so worried."

"I'm sorry for worrying you. I was a little busy but I promise you can come with me next time."

She smiled. "I kept your place clean."

He squeezed her tighter. "Thanks. You're the best."

"Of course. Now I should shower. I know I smell and you have a sensitive nose."

She walked into the bathroom and he said to the empty room, "you smell lovely to me."

While she was in the shower, Natsu sat on her bed and looked around her room. Not much had changed since he had been there last. She had gotten new curtains and some new furniture but there was one thing he noticed above all that. Hanging on the wall next to her desk was a calendar and white board. Said white board was covered in little ticks.

Natsu counted until he reached well over 300. "Three hundred and fifty, three fifty-five, three sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty four... Three hundred and sixty-four days?"

He'd been gone for about that long. Had she been counting? His heart twinged and he had hope that this meant she felt the same way he did.

"No way, we're just best friends after all. She just missed me like I would miss Happy..." he sighed and returned to her bed. Laying down, he stared at the ceiling. Lucy's scent enveloped him and he smiled, just glad to be back with her.

Meanwhile, back at the guild hall...

"So how long do you think it'll take them to jump each other's bones?" Cana asked.

"Oh Cana, you're always so unromantic about these things." Mirajane replied.

"You're all thinking it too! Natsu's been gone a whole year and it's so obvious he loves her. Plus we all know how she feels."

Happy flew up above everyone. "It's true, he liiiiiiikes her! I've heard him talking in his sleep. He says her name a lot, and wakes up all red in the face!"

The older guild members chuckled knowingly while younger members looked at them, confused.

"Lucy-san isn't like that. Juvia thinks they'll take it slow." Juvia commented.

"Natsu's so hot headed though." Macao said. "He never takes anything slow."

"He seems different tough. More mature and thoughtful underneath the surface. He suggested Lucy talk a moment to relax after all." Erza added.

"He's a real man!" Elfman yelled out. Evergreen smacked him and he slumped in his chair.

"Natsu's still Natsu though. I doubt that idiot would even know what to do when faced with a girl." Gray said with a smirk.

Mirajane spoke softly. "I wouldn't be too sure of that." Everyone turned towards her, as she hummed and cleaned glasses behind the bar.

"What does that mean Mira-nee?" Lisanna asked.

"I just think you're all underestimating his knowledge." She replied putting the glass down. "He learned a lot while he was away. I saw one of his letters to master explaining that he had been doing more reading. There were no specifics, but the name of one of the books he mentioned was about human psychology which I know for a fact explains about sexual desires."

"Now that you mention it, he got all red faced and had a nose bleed when he was reading one of the books Ben gave him to read." Happy said.

"Who's Ben?"

"Well, he's who we met following the dragon footprints!"

Back at Lucy's...

Lucy finished showering and dressed in the bathroom. She took her time, still feeling a little nervous about being alone with him. When she walked out, Natsu was lying on her bed.

"Oh good, you're done!" he said sitting up. "I can't wait to tell you about my trip."

She sat down next to him on the bed and leaned against the wall. "I'd love to hear about it."

He launched into his story about the mission and how easy it was, just some escort mission across the country (all on foot of course) and some bandit wrangling. Then he got to part with the footprints. "On our way out of town, I smelled something so we looked around and there were these huge footprints that smelled kind of like dragon. At first I thought it was just because it had been a while since it had been there, but then we reached this cave. It had the same faint smell of dragon mixed with some other reptile like smell.

"When we went in, there was this big creature that was smaller than a dragon but still pretty big. After fighting him a bit, he told us he was a Wyvern and he wasn't bad or anything, and apparently he grew up around dragons too! So we stayed with him for a while and he brought us to where his dragon friends had been. He taught me a lot of stuff. He had a lot of books and while I'm not one to care for them, some of them were about dragon magic and from there I learned more about second origin, dragon force and some other stuff about dragon and human bodies..."

He trailed off, face turning pink for a moment. "Is something wrong?" Lucy asked. She had been listening intently to his story and leaned in closer to him.

Natsu coughed then said, "Where there's not much else. We battled and got stronger and about a week ago I just really wanted to come home. Benivolens, or Ben as I call him, the Wyvern told me he'd hang in a nearby forest so I could continue to see him."

Lucy smiled. "He has a nice name. It means 'friend' in Latin."

"Really? That's so cool! See, this is why I like you, you're so smart."

She blushed and leaned on his shoulder. "Glad I could help. Maybe I could come to meet him?"

"I'll take you one day. He knows all about you though. I told him. And about everyone else." He added quickly. She chuckled and closer her eyes, feeling the warmth that radiated from him.

"Man Lucy, you feel cold," he said and wrapped an arm around her. Against her better judgement she snuggled in closer, keeping warm in his embrace. Her heart was beating fast, but she could feel his beating wildly as well. She felt all tingly and smiled, hoping it was for the same reason as hers.

He inhaled her scent again and felt his heart speeding up, knowing she would be able to feel it. This made it beat faster and he shook his head trying to get it to stop. They sat like this for a few minutes until Natsu felt Lucy's breathing even out. He looked down, and found she was sound asleep. He slowly readjusted himself so they were lying down.

Lucy sighed contently in her sleep mumbling, "Mmm... Natsu... Love... You..."

His heart leapt hearing this. "I love you too Lucy." He said and kissed her on the forehead. Soon after, he too fell asleep.

A couple hours later, Lucy's eyes fluttered open. She was perfectly warm, but didn't know why her pillow wasn't as soft as usual. Her mind flashed back to Natsu and she looked up, looking straight into his face.

"Good morning sleepy-head." he said.

"What time is it?" she asked.

He glanced at her clock. "Five-ish."

"Okay we've only been here a couple of hours."

"Hey Lucy?"

"Yea?"

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by simultaneous knocks on the window and door. Happy was at the window giggling.

"It can wait." Natsu told her. She nodded and got up to answer the door. Erza and Gray were standing on the other side.

"Hm, it seems they were wrong. Still fully clothed and not dishevelled. Erza said matter-of-factly.

"Told them Natsu is too stupid." Gray added.

Lucy slammed the door in their faces. She rubbed her temples saying "They're my friends and they mean well, but they're crazy."

Natsu let Happy in through the window. "What's up buddy?"

"You guys were gone for so long so we came to make sure you were all right."

"Yep, we just fell asleep. We'll head back to the guild with you guys. Meet you down there okay?"

"Okay Natsu. Don't take too long!" Happy replied and flew back out the window.

Natsu smiled then shut the window. "Listen Luce, we need to talk later."

She nodded. "Better get going before they get more crazy ideas."

"Right, crazy ideas." he said. Lucy reached for the door handle, but he grabbed her hand and used his other one to hold her chin, turning her towards him. She looked up at him, puzzled and he leaned in, kissing her lightly on the lips before opening the door and bounding down the stairs to meet with the rest of their team.

She stood in the doorway, shocked at what Natsu had done. "Lucy, come on! No crazy ideas, remember?" he said winking at her. She smiled and locked her door, rushing down the stairs after him.

 **So I started writing this a while ago, like during the middle of the Tartaros arc so when the whole *SPOILERS* Natsu leaving for a year thing happened I was like WOAH THIS IS CRAZY, and didn't post it cause it was to close to that. Hope you enjoyed!**


End file.
